Improvement in fire-proof safes



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

WILLIAM MCFARLAND AND WILLIAM H. BUTLER, OF WILLIAMSBURG, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 82,016, dated September 8, 1868.

To all lwhom it may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM MGFARLAND and WILLIAM H. BUTLER, of Williamsburg, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Proof Safes, and methods of filling the same, and the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had t0 the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specitication, in which- Figure l represents a front view with the door open, showing the recesses, the overlapping plates, and insulated jambs 0f both the body of the safe and the door. Fig. 2 shows a horizontal section through the safe, the metal plates, and interior wood-work, the filling substance, and the mode of forming spaces in the iilling for containing vaporizing substances. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of one of the wedge-shaped blocks, to be put in, the filling cast around, and then withdrawn, thereby leaving the spaces for containing the vaporizing substances.

To enable others to make and fill our irnproved fire-proof safe, we Will describe it more in detail, referring to the drawings and to the letters thereon.

The object of our invention is the more thorough protection of books, papers, and other valuables from loss or damage by re, which, in the safes as at present constructed, are very often found much damaged, and sometimes totally destroyed, in great conflagrations.

Our invention consists in insulating each section or recess of the door, leaving air-spaces, the plates being separated by blocks made of material which is a non-conductor of heat, so that there will be no continuation of metal or good heat-conducting substance from the outside covering to the inside receptacle.

Our invention further consists in the Inode of forming cells or cavities in the conc-rete or filling material without the use of metal plates, and supplying the said cavities with Vaporizing substance to expel the heat.

rIhe outside case A A of our improved reproof safe is made of metal and put together in the usual manner. The inner portion or repository B B is also in casedin metal,G C, on all sides, except for the door B, the plates C G extending forward,iiaring outward, to form a portion ofthe jambs c c, which are connected to other plates,

E E, by placing blocks e e e e of some inferior conductor of heat, leaving air-spaces d d, or a" place for the concrete or insulating substance used in filling around the repository B. The

frame of plates E E, which form the greater portion of the jambs in the recess for the door D, is also made iiaring, so that a sufiicient opening is in front to get at the interior conveniently when the door is opened.

In order to insure the most perfect safety, the repository B is made small in proportion to the size of the body of the safe, thereby having a large space to be filled with concrete, composed of substances known to be the best non-conductors o f heat, and also for forming airspaces in the iilling, or making cavities F F, which may be filledwith vaporizing substance for expelling the heat, they being on all sides of the inner receptacle or repository B, except the side in which the jainbs E E are fixed, in which the door D is fitted.

The cavities F F are formed in the following manner, as shown in Fig. 2: When the safe is made ready for the filling, the jambs E E are pnt into the outer metal case, and secured by the blocks e e e. case C C for the repository B is also placed in and secured to the jamb-fralne E E with the non-conductor-of-heat-blocks e. The safe is then placed on the front for the filling process to take place, which is done as follows: Tapering pieces of hard wood G, as shown in Fig. 3, are set in, they being prepared and tted so as to form a box on the two sides, top, and bottom, about midway in the space between the outside shell A A and the inside case C C. The concrete filling I I is then put in on both sides of the tapering blocks G, and when it becomes set the pieces are drawn out and a back board is laid in, covering the spaces F, and is then iilled in over it until the outside shell is full. When the last lling has set, it is taken out and the b'oard removed. Supporting-blocks ff are placed in, and the whole space around is filled with a vaporizing substance, and the last-formed slab of concrete H is put back in its place, andthe back plate J of the safe is put in and secured, and the fire-proof safe completed.

The safedoor D is conducted so as to be equally defiant with the other portions of the safe, the front plate D being of metal, the

The inner metal Y same as the other portions of the outside, and stiffened up with a lining, b, next to which is an air-space, a, in which are placed the blocks 'i i, which are non-conductors of heat, to which blocks the thick insulated section of the door K is secured, the jambs klc being beveled to correspond with and t in close to the beveledjambs E E in the recess. Then inside of the thick section of the door K there is another air-space,l Z, and another beveled section or to the most severe trial in burning warehouses,

and have been subjected to the heat of a furnace for two days, and in every instance have stood the test, saving the contents from being in the least scorched or damaged in any Inanner.

Having thus fully described our improvements in the'construction of lire-proof safes, and the mode of filling the same, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The insulation of each section or recess of the door, in combinationwith the air-spaces, as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The method of forming spaces in the lling of the safe, by inserting patterns of wood, to be' withdrawn after the illing substance has set, and supplying said spaces with a vaporizing substance,'substantially in the manner as and for the purposes herein described.

3. The manner of securing the separate sections of the doors by placing supporting-blocks made of material which is a non or inferior conductor of heat between them, so that there is no continuation V.of metal or good heat-conducting substance from the outside covering to the inside repository, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof we hereunto subscribe `0111' llames. 

